Archive | Business

“To be good is not enough, when you dream of being great.” -School of Visual Arts poster advertisement I remember seeing that ad in the late-90’s riding the NYC subway while I attended another art school in same city – Pratt Institute. My wife and I went out last night to watch the start of […]

“It is not only one person’s work, it’s really a partnership and collaboration during all these years.” – Christo (Artist) It’s funny how the most popular image in my portfolio, ‘Crank’ shares the same word in the company name that produced the product of the year for my business, as 2014 was coming to a close. It’s […]

I think this is my first full article for LAS in 2015. Looking back a month after the event took place, this is my bullet point of what I learned from LaxCon (in no particular order): In preparation for the event, I work in more isolation and that’s the brutal part of doing such […]

I have a “rolodex” of ideas in my mind for upcoming projects. I write some down on a list either physically in a random pile of papers, or digitally on my smartphone. I don’t get to all of them because it’s not a perfect world. But when I was sitting on a plane 4 years […]

This new piece is a throwback for us “old-schoolers”. Looking back, I can’t believe I endured wearing such a heavy piece of equipment on my head. But its was the standard back then, and so common – the norm! Mine, like 99.7% of lacrosse players back then, was the LHN 33 by the now nonexistent, Bacharach […]

In the summer of 2009, The Art of Lax™ was just starting out and going wherever chance would take us. That August, chance would have me and bunch of my lacrosse buddies from NYC enter a team in the “War at the Shore” tournament in Brick, NJ. In The Art of Lax™ portfolio, “Full-Tilt” was […]

In college, I used to hang motivation quotes above my drafting table as a reminder when things would “get old”. I still do. Tacked on a board is a written message about passion that’s attached with the first draft print for a promo card when I started The Art of Lax™ in late-2008. I […]

A little over a year ago this time, I was sitting in the HQ of the CityLax organization with Mat Levine, John Moser and Tewaaraton Award winners; Max Seibald and Rob Pannell. Our goal was to come up and solidify a logo concept for LCNewYork – an elite travel team hailing from my hometown of NYC. […]

When I was doodling lacrosse players during class back in high school, pen was my medium and notebook paper was the surface. A few times, ink would smear from my drawing hand and transfer onto my pinky finger area. A simple wash of soap and water would take care of that temporary problem. Looking back, […]

“We’re from New York City.” That was the direct response from both my friend and myself, when asked where we were from while backpacking around Europe, summer of 2000. Not “America”, or the “U.S.”, but “New York City”. I told my friend to carefully observe their faces when we said that, because it was like a surprise to […]

One of our hit products were the notecards a few years ago. The business grew to a different direction, which was good, but the notecards were kept behind. Recently, we decided to circle back, bring them back and find out how to make it look different, in some sort of way. I rarely save note cards, to […]

“If you take it seriously, they will take you seriously.” -Tom LaPadula In grade school, I made sure requirements were met on time. But that didn’t mean I enjoyed every subject I had. I was a doodler in class. Occasionally, or A LOT of times, I would discreetly draw in my notebooks when a class […]

(Writer’s Note: They don’t offer athletic scholarships in art school. One of the things I regret at times was not going to a traditional, liberal arts college/university. The reservation comes back when I play a game of lacrosse and players asked where I played. The lack of being able to answer makes me feel that […]

“If you can’t draw hands and feet at this stage, you’re basically F_cked!” Those were exactly the first words from my professor who taught ‘New Directions in Illustration’ class the first day of the spring semester, of my junior year at The Pratt Institute in 1999. I had my fair share of sport coaches who threw F-bombs […]

My recent post on Wed. included this pic (above) of me playing in goal, along with the two other people who I co-founded the Brooklyn Men’s Lacrosse Club back in 2005. Dan Mirsky (#7), Dan Sheff (#8) and myself, Vinnie Ricasio, (#1). We started the team because NYC needed another post-collegiate lacrosse team and most of […]

Yesterday’s post made me think a lot on the classic, “Crank” piece, above. It is the most identifiable piece in my business and portfolio, and one I don’t think I will ever top (at least for now). But thinking back, there was actually a big seller before “Crank” and that piece is called “Full-Tilt”. This had […]

(Writer’s note: 5 years ago this week “Crank” was created. This article is about 2.5 years overdue – that’s right! I’ve been meaning to do this for such a long time. This article is for Chris’ mother who recently passed away. As a business owner, you just want everything to go right, that’s why you […]

You see that “work in progress” or “studio pic” in the featured image, above (and below)? Yeah, that’s me doing work while on a family vacation that had me “away the business” for almost 2-weeks. While doing this, I constantly thought to myself that this is obsessive – work while on vacation. But as a business owner, […]